Jiang Zemin

Jiang Zemin (17 August 1926-) was General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China from 24 June 1989 to 15 November 2002, succeeding Zhao Ziyang and preceding Hu Jintao. He also served as President of the People's Republic of China from 27 March 1993 to 15 March 2003, succeeding Yang Shangkun and preceding Hu Jintao.

Biography
Jiang Zemin was born in Yangzhou, Jiangsu, China in 1926, and he joined the Communist Party of China while he was in college. He worked for Changchun's First Automobile Works, and he rose in the ranks of the CPC before becoming Mayor of Shanghai in 1985. He believed in Deng Xiaoping's economic reforms, and he became a member of the Politburo of the CPC Central Committee in 1987. In 1989, he succeeded Zhao Ziyang as General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, and he succeeded Yang Shangkun as President in 1993. Jiang was a compromise candidate who was appointed to succeed Zhao in the aftermath of the Tiananmen Square protests, which Zhao had supported. He deregulated a number of heavy industries, focusing on economic liberalization, but not political liberalization; he believed that a strong central government was a prerequisite for development. Jiang became paramount leader following Deng Xiaoping's death, and he oversaw substantial economic growth with the continuation of reforms, saw the peaceful return of Hong Kong from the United Kingdom and Macau from Portugal, and improved relations with the outside world. He left office as General Secretary in 2002 and President in 2003, and he relinquished the rest of his leadership titles in 2005.